Conventionally, a vehicle is provided with a parking lock mechanism for limiting the rotation of a drive wheel of the vehicle when a parking position is selected. The parking lock mechanism includes a parking lock gear having a plurality of gear teeth provided at a shaft that is coupled to the drive wheel, and a parking lock pole having a protrusion that can mesh with the gear teeth. When the parking position is selected, the projecting shape meshes with a recess between the gear teeth, thereby bringing the parking lock mechanism to an effectively operating state.
In addition, a technique of automatically selecting the parking position when a power supply of the vehicle is shut off (that will also be described as “auto parking control” or simply as “auto-P” in the following description) is known. Thus, execution of the auto parking control brings the parking lock mechanism into operation, and the movement of the vehicle is limited.
As such a technique, Japanese Patent No. 4179388, for example, discloses a vehicle control apparatus that allows a circumstance in which a normal ending process can be performed to be ensured as rapidly as possible, even when the vehicle has rolled in a circumstance such as executing auto parking control on a hill. This vehicle control apparatus is, in a vehicle having a shift-by-wire parking mechanism that switches an output shaft of an automatic transmission between a locked state in which rotation is not possible, and an unlocked state in which rotation is possible, a control apparatus that executes an auto parking control that sets the parking mechanism to the locked state when a request to switch a vehicle electrical power source from an ignition on position to an ignition off position has been received and a vehicle stop condition has been established, and includes an ending process element that, after operation of the parking mechanism by the auto parking control, when the locked state has been established within a reference period, performs a normal ending process that stops a vehicle drive source and switches a vehicle electrical power source to an ignition off position, and when the locked state has not been established within the reference period, performs an abnormal ending process that stops the vehicle drive source and switches the vehicle electrical power source to an accessory position; and a support process element that, when an increase in vehicle speed is detected when the parking mechanism is operated by the auto parking control, performs a support process that prohibits operation of the parking mechanism and extends the reference period.
According to the vehicle control apparatus disclosed in the above publication, when the vehicle has rolled in the sort of circumstance in which auto parking control is executed on a hill, performance of the abnormal ending process in which the vehicle electrical power source is set to the accessory position can be avoided as much as possible. Accordingly, it is possible to avoid excessive mistakes or mistrust by the driver, for example, thus contributing to an improvement in reliability.
CITATION LIST
Patent Literature
PTL 1: Japanese Patent No. 4179388